Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Mini-Pitas

Yes! Yes! Two months ago I scoured the entire city looking for these and they were nowhere to be found. Yesterday, lo and behold, there they were on the shelf at my regular grocery store -- MINI-PITAS! They're just the right size for a little hand, and they fit perfectly in the lunch box. I filled them with our old favorite, "white bean crock cheese" from Jo Stepaniak'sUltimate Uncheese Cookbook. (As a pointless aside, my scientifically-minded yet utterly adorable omni husband gets disgusted when I call it "cheese". Yes, technically, it's not cheese, it's beans. I can't even really tell if it tastes like cheese, but heck, it's really good! So I call it "white bean crock stuff", which doesn't sound quite as appetizing...)Anyhoo, along with my Happy Mini-Pita Dance I'm doing the Guinea Pig Shuffle: Matisse & Jack asked shmoo and I to try out their TrailBlaze Bake-At-Home Oatmeal Energy Bars -- you add applesauce to a dry mix, stick it in the oven, and take out a batch of vegan "energy" bars without the wrappers. Today we tried Cranberry Walnut. I packed them along with kiwi fruit and Brussels sprouts (there were four but shmoo nicked one to eat with breakfast).Verdict: First, the bars: they were absolutely effortless, cheaper and more eco-friendly than prepackaged bars, and tasted good (can't wait to try the chocolate!). One criticism I have is that the bars contain whole flaxseeds; flax needs to be ground in order to become bioavailable, so those lovely omega-3s are going in one end and right out the other, and getting stuck in my teeth along the way. Only one mini-pita was left uneaten. 4 stars.

58 comments:

Those bars sounded really good and since I love things like that in my lunch, I checked out the website. They don't ship to Canada. :o( But I see that they are at Whole Foods in BC, so maybe they'll make it east. Pitas are great for lunches and I love the mini ones too. Thank you for another great lunch. It looks better than the one I had.

Anyway, I just wanted to say a HUGE thank-you to Jennifer or whoever it was that pointed my towards the veganstore.com site. I was having some serious cravings--not having had dairy for about five years now (I'm allergic). I got my order today--tons of chocolatey treats, and yeast/gluten/dairy-free parmesan!!! I am in heaven.

Jennifer, if you chew the flax seeds really well it can be more bioavailable. After all, digestion starts in the mouth!

In my treats, I use ground for the mix and top it off with hemp seeds and whole flax seeds (for effect). I like how you did your Happy-Mini-Pita-Dance and to me, "stuff" sounds a lot better/appetizing than "cheese". If you have a Trader Joes, they have 'em there.

Everyone and SUSAN V... I have found that warming pitas for later use makes them more soggy and rubbery. In fact, it makes the cold ones so much better.

Trader Joes always carries mini pitas in wheat and white, so you can stock up there!

Also, if its bean, why not call it a bean pita? Actually, thats what I have for lunch almost everyday: black bean spread into a pita, layered with spinach or lettuce and a slice of soy cheese. Delicious and portable. My kind of lunch :-)

Any child who actually likes Brussels sprouts is a child after my heart. I ADORE Brussels sprouts. I'm vegetarian, not vegan, so I boil them in vegetable stock, then drain and add some butter, salt, and caraway seeds. Mmmmm. The butter part would be problematic if I were vegan, obviously.

Brussel sprouts are a cruciferous vegetable, in the same family as broccoli and cabbage. They have a slightly sulphurous taste (in a good way!) like broccoli does. I love brussel sprouts myself, but they do have a rather strong flavour.

I don't know if it's an East Coast - West Coast thing, but mini-pitas (whole wheat and regular) are available EVERYWHERE here - even at the little neighborhood convenience stores - I'm shocked you had trouble finding them!

Jennifer, you just keep calling it cheese! I make an awesome vegan cheesecake and I had someone at work tell me I couldn't call it a cheesecake, I could only call it a tofu cake. Right. Like that sounds appetizing. There's no semantics police, so call it what you like.

To me, if it looks like a cheese and smells like a cheese, it's a cheese. I mean, if we're going for strict dictionary definitions rather than an evolving language, milk is defined as a milky substance, so soy milk is no less milk than cow's milk. I think it's bad for the culture to make our food seem inferior by calling it "fake". Sure, it's one thing to clarify it in front of an audience that may not realize it, but in my home if I say "cream cheese" it's understood that it's Tofutti, no one questions my meaning.

i know this is completely off topic, but i didnt know who else would be able to help....how do i use arrowroot powder as a thickener? my boyfriend is allergic to corn so i have to use thickeners other than cornstarch for the asian cooking he loves....help for a desperate cook? btw jennifer, i love the blog and check it every day to see what yummy foods youve cooked for the lucky little shmoo! although im omni, i love your ideas for vegan cooking, if i didnt have your blog i would of been at a complete loss on how to cook vegan! (which i do sometimes, and plan on it more often!)

You can use arrowroot powder in the exact same amount as whatever recipe you may be looking at calls for corn starch. It doesn't make the water murky looking if you are dissolving it first. It works just the same so you shouldn't have any problems.

I JUST got the Uncheese Cookbook in the mail TODAY and I am so excited about it! It all looks so good! I also got the "Vegan World Fusion" book which IMHO is the most beautiful cookbook ever written.

We get mini pitas at Trader Joes that are even smaller than the ones in Shmoo's lunch! Whole wheat goodness! You get a ton of them for a mere $1.19!

I love the whole wheat pitas at Trader Joes. I gotten both sizes of pitas there- the one's in Shmoo's lunch and also the even smaller ones. I love making hummus sanwiches or pb and j's with them or just using them to dip with hummus. I'd love to try it with a new filling and this white bean crock stuff sounds delicious. I bet they'd be go with any bean and "cheese" filling, but I never would have thought of that. Thanks Jennifer.

Jen, come the summer break (which we are all totally dreading) maybe you could blog a couple of meals focusing on foods Schmoo isn't fond of?

I only ask because I love all the new ideas I get from this blog and I'm desperately curious to see what you'd do with the foods that won't go in the lunchbox, because Schmoo doesn't enjoy them. Y'know: onions, sweet potatoes, crusts... :-)

another great way to make brussels sprouts is my mom's traditional thanksgiving recipe: steam the b.sprouts til tender, then marinate overnight in any kind of italian salad dressing (in the old days she would use a huge bottle of wishbone, but we've all gone healthier since then). these are so delicious, even brussels sprouts haters love them.

Jennifer - thanks for pointing out that flaxseeds need to be ground in order to get to all the good stuff. I'm sitting here saying, Duh!. That makes all the sense in the world. I've been eating whole flaxseeds on my oatmeal and don't like the way they become stuck in my teeth either. I guess I could just slow down and chew better, but I hardly have time to eat a complete meal with three young ones running amok! BTW - I LOVE YOUR POSTS!!

Lisa Marie, I don't know how much they cost in Washington (where Jennifer is), but I know that in NYC I'll pay anywhere from $1.99 - $2.50 for an energy bar in a convenience store, and only slightly less if I can find someone to sell me the whole box (which is sort of rare).

So it works out to about $18 - $22.50 for me to eat 9 energy bars. So even at $6 a box plus applesauce costs, the Trailblaze bars would be cheaper here.

Of course, this is NY, so I'm sure the Trailblaze mix sells for about $8.50 + tax, lol. :-)

I have a little electric coffee bean grinder that I have set aside just for grinding flaxseed. I keep both the whole and ground in the freezer in Tupp. containers. I use the ground as an egg replacer sometimes and then also put a tablespoon in the blender whenever I make a smoothie.

I also use a little grinder. It's very hard to chew those little flax seeds enough to open them and release their oil. Also, I second the refrigeration/freezing idea. It's not as necessarry for the whole seeds (the seed coat protects the oil from going rancid)but very nec. for the ground seeds. But does anyone know how long they keep after grinding? I try to use them in a day or two because I don't know.

Around here energy bars (not candy or granola bars, the kind with protein powder, flax, etc.) are around $2.00 each. So it seems like a good price, although I'm sure you can make them from scratch a bit cheaper.

I'm so glad to see someone recommending The UUC by Jo Stepaniak! I'm usually alone in my appreciation of her book.

Are the Trader Joe's pitas vegan? I seem to remember passing them by last time I was there because they weren't. I made pitas from the New Laurel's Kitchen cookbook a few years back and it was fun and easy...but not as easy as store bought! :)

Main Entry: 1cheesePronunciation: 'chEzFunction: nounUsage: often attributiveEtymology: Middle English chese, from Old English cEse, from Latin caseus cheese1 a : a food consisting of the coagulated, compressed, and usually ripened curd of milk separated from the whey b : an often cylindrical cake of this food2 : something resembling cheese in shape or consistency

Well again that's a very non-vegan unfriendly attitude calling the definition of cheese nasty. Ripening is a historic way to make foods both more digestible and safer. I don't mean to pick and I know you're mostly vegan but I try not to talk about your vegan foods being nasty or disgusting and I'd appreciate the same consideration. I'm vegetarian and not considering becoming vegan because of the attitude I get from many vegans. (Not Jennifer!)

I am a recent convert to vegetarianism, with an eye for making the move to veganism. Your site may be geared toward children, but it's been GREAT for 35-year-old me! My husband and I are childfree adults, but we know plenty of folks with kids who would love this site. My sister is one of them...she is considering veggie for her family and I know that she would love to pack these lunches for her little girl. So glad that I found you. May I add you to my Links section on my blog? (It will increase your traffic; I have a pretty solid readership.)

The best way to cook brussels sprouts EVER (even for those who think they hate them):Drop them in boiling water for about a minute to blanche. Then, when cooled a little, cut them in half lengthwise and roast in a hot oven (about 375 to 400) with toasted seasame oil, maple syrup, salt and pepper. Stir them every 10 minutes or so until they are browned and delightful. Mm.

I once lost a job opportunity because when they said during the interview where shall we go to lunch, I said any place I can get something vegetarian is fine with me, and the group leader went completely nuts and said I "had no right to criticize what they ate", etc. I could see the job disappearing before my eyes.

>>"I'm vegetarian and not considering becoming vegan because of the attitude I get from many vegans."

I'm sure the dairy cows appreciate that... and the laying hens. I'm sure that your hurt feelers are more important than their short and tortured lives.I know I sound like a jerk, and I normally wouldn't bother- but that is trivial and childish. Be Vegan if you care about animals and being compassionate, it doesn't matter if people are rude to you or not.